Belichick was a defensive assistant with the Lions when Jauron played for them. Last week, Belichick talked about how quickly Jauron, even as a young pro, understood the Lions' complicated defensive schemes.

``Dick is a very, very smart guy,'' said Belichick, who doesn't bestow that compliment on many.

But Jauron and his staff were perhaps a little short on sideline smarts Sunday in the final minutes of the Patriots' 33-30 comeback victory.

The Patriots trailed 30-25 and faced third-and-3 at the Bears 20 with what the clock said was 20 seconds left. That was when Bears defensive coordinator Greg Blache did something that seemed inexplicable given the Patriots' desperate situation.

He called timeout.

Why? In the confusion, Blache said, he called timeout to find out what down it was. Blache was confused because three plays earlier, after Brady ran 3 yards for a first down on fourth-and-3 at the Bears 30, he hurriedly assembled his team and spiked the ball, knowing that an incomplete pass would stop the clock.

But the officials, for reasons that aren't clear (they refused to be interviewed after the game), had never started the clock, so when Brady spiked the ball, they ruled it no play.

Ordinarily, when a team makes a first down on a running play, as Brady had, the officials spot the ball, then start the clock. Not only didn't they start the clock, giving the Patriots an extra down, they added 8 seconds to the clock because they said the Bears had called timeout with 28 seconds left.

By calling timeout -- the Patriots didn't have any timeouts left -- the Bears coaching staff allowed the Patriots to gather themselves, and Brady trotted over to talk to Belichick and offensive coordinator Charlie Weis.

On the next play, third-and-3 at the Bears 20, he threw the winning touchdown pass to David Patten.

The Bears were playing a zone, Brady said, and he had to pump-fake to the left to draw the safety away from Patten so when Brady came back to Patten, he would be 1-on-1 with Bears cornerback R.W. McQuarters. Which is just what happened.

Even though Brady said it was his call -- ``Charlie and I had been talking about that play, and we've had it in for a long time'' -- he might not have had the time to make the call, and relay it to his teammates, if the Bears hadn't called timeout.

``Clearly, that should have been a fourth-down play,'' Jauron said. ``We were trying to figure out why it wasn't.''